Service improvements

Kent County Council

Showing service improvements between 1 April 2024 and 31 March 2025

Find out more about service improvements

When we find fault, we can recommend improvements to systems and processes where they haven’t worked properly, so that others do not suffer from these same problems in future. Common examples are policy changes; procedural reviews; and staff training. Service improvements from decisions are published for 5 years and those from reports are published for 10 years.

Showing 1 - 10 of 21 cases with service improvements

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Downloads the current filtered list of service improvement decisions for Kent County Council as a CSV file.

  • Kent County Council (24 006 374)

    Category: Education Date: 19-Mar-2025

    Summary

    Ms X complained about the Council’s handling of her child, Y’s Personal Transport Budget (PTB) since late 2022. The Council has processed and decided Y’s PTB in line with its policy. However, it delayed processing Ms X’s change of circumstances requests on two occasions and delayed informing her of both underpayments and overpayments. It also communicated and handled her complaint poorly. The Council agreed to make a symbolic payment to recognise the distress and confusion this caused Ms X. It will also carry out service improvements.

    Service improvements

    The Council will review its procedures around the processing of Personal Transport Budget (PTB) change of circumstance requests to ensure requests are dealt with within 28 days as outlined in its PTB policy.Reviewits procedures to ensure that where there is a change of circumstances that itconsiders, at the time, whether this results in an underpayment or overpaymentof the Personal Transport Budget Itshould then notify the parent/carer of this in a timely manner.The Council will remind its complaint handlers to ensure all the main areas of a complaint are responded to and to respond to complaints in a timely manner.

  • Kent County Council (24 004 481)

    Category: Education Date: 10-Dec-2024

    Summary

    Miss X complained the Council has failed to make appropriate educational provision available for her daughter. She also said the Council’s communication has been poor. We find the Council was at fault. This caused significant distress to Miss X and her daughter missed out on education. We make several recommendations to address this injustice caused by fault.

    Service improvements

    The Council has agreed to remind relevant staff of the guidance which states within four weeks of a review meeting, the Council must notify the child’s parent of its decision to maintain, amend or discontinue the EHC Plan.The Council has agreed to, by training or otherwise, remind staff of the importance of adhering to the Council’s complaints procedure; andprovide training or guidance to all relevant staff on the Council’s duties when a child is unable to attend school.

  • Kent County Council (24 004 142)

    Category: Education Date: 04-Feb-2025

    Summary

    Mrs X complained the Council failed to provide a suitable education for her daughter Z. Based on the information we have seen, there was fault in how the Council failed to consider whether it needed to arrange alternative education for Z when she stopped attending school. This caused Z to miss out on education and caused Mrs X avoidable distress. The Council should apologise, pay Mrs X a financial remedy and remind it staff of the Council’s legal duties.

    Service improvements

    The Council agreed to produce and circulate a briefing to its special educational needs and education staff, and relevant elected members, of the Council’s duties to arrange alternative education under section 19 of the Education Act 1996. This should include, but not be limited to, the Council’s legal responsibilities, its expectations for staff when concerns are raised that a child or young person is not accessing the education otherwise available to them and Ombudsman’s 'Out of school, out of sight' focus report.

  • Kent County Council (24 001 526)

    Category: Education Date: 23-Jan-2025

    Summary

    Mrs X complained about how the Council failed to provide suitable education for her son, Y. There was fault with the Council’s actions. It was responsible for delays following a review of Y’s Education Health and Care plan, failed to properly consider whether it needed to make alternative arrangements for Y’s education and communicated with Mrs X poorly. This caused Mrs X avoidable worry, frustration and distress. The Council agreed to apologise, pay Mrs X a financial remedy and issue reminders to its staff.

    Service improvements

    The Council agree to remind staff in its special educational needs team about the importance of:complying with the statutory timescales following a review of an EHC plan;promptly taking action to secure the provision in EHC plans when it knows this is no longer being provided; andproperly considering and recording their decisions about whether the Council needs to make alternative education provision for children who are not attending school.

  • Kent County Council (24 001 423)

    Category: Education Date: 30-Jan-2025

    Summary

    Mr and Mrs X complained the Council failed to provide an education for their disabled son and that it failed to provide the social care and respite set out in his Education Health and Care Plan. We found there was lack of provision over a prolonged period and a failure to respond to their complaint in a reasonable timescale. We recommended an apology, a payment of £9000 to recognise the impact of the missed provision and £500 to recognise the distress the matter caused.

    Service improvements

    The Council should produce and circulate a briefing note to relevant staff to remind them that it is not possible to make changes to the provision of a child who has an Education Health and Care Plan without issuing a revised plan and an amendment notice to enable the child or young person’s parents to comment. This is in line with the process for amending a plan set out in the SEN Code paragraphs 9.193 to 9.198.

  • Kent County Council (24 001 417)

    Category: Education Date: 10-Dec-2024

    Summary

    Mr X complained about how the failed to provide a suitable education for his son, Y, from September 2023. There was fault in how the Council arranged tuition for Y, failed to keep that tuition under review and took too long to reassess his needs. It also did not follow its policy when restricting how Mr X could contact the Council. The Council agreed to apologise, pay Mr X and Y a financial remedy and review the restrictions it has placed on Mr X’s contact. It also agreed to remind its staff of the importance of following its unreasonable behaviour policy.

    Service improvements

    The Council agreed remind staff of the existence of the Council’s policy on managing unacceptable behaviour from members of the public and the importance of following that policy when imposing contact restrictions.

  • Kent County Council (23 021 398)

    Category: Education Date: 28-Aug-2024

    Summary

    Mrs X complains the Council wrongly decided not to amend her child D’s Education, Health, and Care Plan following an annual review, and delayed in making this decision. There was fault by the Council which caused avoidable distress for D and Mrs X, and avoidable time and trouble for Mrs X. The Council agreed to pay a financial remedy and share a copy of our final decision with staff in its Children’s Complaints Team to share learning from the complaint handling faults identified.

    Service improvements

    The Council agreed to share a copy of our final decision with staff in its Children’s Complaints Team. It will remind them that where a complainant has appealed about an Education, Health, and Care Plan to the First-tier Tribunal (Special Educational Needs and Disability), this does not prevent the Council from considering how it should remedy injustice caused by delays before the appealable decision.

  • Kent County Council (23 020 046)

    Category: Education Date: 12-Dec-2024

    Summary

    Mrs B complained about the Council’s handling of various matters concerned with their child’s special educational needs. We found fault with the Council’s delay in issuing an Education, Health and Care Plan and then for amending that plan without proper consultation. This caused injustice to Mrs B as distress and loss of opportunity to comment. The Council has accepted these findings. At the end of this statement, we set out the action it has agreed to remedy that injustice and make a service improvement to prevent a repeat.

    Service improvements

    As a result of this investigation, the Council agreed that it would provide advice to caseworkers in its special educational needs service of the approach to take if it changed its mind about undertaking an education, health and care needs assessment in the absence of an appeal. It would advise caseworkers to treat such cases as if it were conceding an appeal and complete the assessments within 14 weeks.In addition, the Council agreed to also brief its special educational needs caseworkers on the approach to take when it proposes amending an Education, Health and Care Plan. It will, in future, follow Government guidance and ensure parents or young people are formally consulted on any proposed amendment, even ones it considers minor.

  • Kent County Council (23 019 445)

    Category: Education Date: 02-Jan-2025

    Summary

    The Council delayed issuing K’s Education, Health and Care Plan, failed to respond to Mrs B’s requests for mediation and delayed responding to Mrs B’s complaints. The Council has agreed to make payments to Mrs B and K, and to take action to improve its services.

    Service improvements

    The Council has agreed to remind relevant staff that they must arrange mediation, if requested, as an informal way to resolve disputes about decisions that can be appealed to the SEND Tribunal.The Council has agreed to remind relevant staff that they must complete reviews and amend EHC Plans by 15 February in the calendar year in which the child is due to transfer into or between school phases.The Council has agreed to provide details of the action it has taken or is taking to prevent delays in assessing and issuing EHC Plans.The Council has agreed to provide guidance to its complaint handling staff about the special educational needs complaints it can investigate when an appeal is ongoing, such as complaints about delays and complaints about mediation.The Council has agreed to review its procedures to ensure it is able to respond to complaints within the timescales set out in its policy.

  • Kent County Council (23 019 374)

    Category: Education Date: 06-Oct-2024

    Summary

    Miss Y complains the Council wrongly refused to provide transport assistance for her two children to attend a local primary school. There is no fault in how the Council considered the application and appeal for Miss Y’s youngest child because they are not attending their closest school. However, there is fault in how the Council considered the application for the other child because the closest school told Miss Y it had no spaces in that child’s year group. The Council has agreed to the actions listed at the end of this to statement to remedy the injustice caused by fault.

    Service improvements

    The Council will remind staff about the importance of providing clear information to school transport appeal panels about the availability of spaces in schools, especially when the Council is refusing transport on the basis there is a closer school with availability. If there is conflicting information (i.e. between the parent and the Council) the Council should obtain up to date information directly from the school.

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